As Disney brings two new ships into the fleet—the Disney Dream, already in service, and the Disney Fantasy—scheduled to sail in March of 2012, it is important to keep guests wanting to sail on the Disney Wonder and Disney Magic.
Speculation abounded about this announcement—click here to read more. Would Asia and Hawaii come into play as Disney’s fleet expanded? And as fuel for those speculations grew, the world changed. The earthquake and tsunami devastated Japan making the economy in that area about recovery. So, while Asia is not on any of the itineraries, Hawaii is—for one 15 night sailing on April 29, 2012 on the Disney Wonder. I envy the folks who get to take in that cruise, as our work schedules would not be conducive to cruising at that time of year. Here’s to hoping Disney will bring on more Hawaiian itineraries!
Let’s break it down by ship:
The Disney Wonder, which has been committed to make the World Cruise Terminal in San Pedro, California, its home for a handful of years, will continue to take cruisers on 7 night Mexican Riviera voyages. In late spring, the Wonder will take guests to Hawaii—as mentioned above. The summer will boast 7 night cruises to Alaska, sailing of out Seattle, Washington.
The Disney Magic will make its way to New York in April, 2012, and sail 8 night voyages from New York to the Bahamas making stops at Nassau, Castaway Cay, and Port Canaveral—being advertised as the “gateway to Walt Disney World.” During the Port Canaveral stop, guests will have the option for a 1 day park hopper ticket to Walt Disney World the use of Disney Transportation to make their way to Walt Disney World for the day. I am curious about other potential excursions for the day. Will Walt Disney World be the only port option? Clever move by Disney! This itinerary also offers 4 days at sea.
While at New York, the Disney Magic will also make several 5 night sailings up the east coast of Canada stopping in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Saint John, New Brunswick. This itinerary offers cruisers 2 days at sea.
There will also be some week-end cruises with sea days to allow families to get a taste of Disney cruising.
In September of 2012, the Magic will make its way to the port of Galveston and offer guests Western Caribbean itineraries including stops at Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Costa Maya, and Key West--on an 8 night itinerary-- with days at sea. No stop at Castaway Cay on these itineraries.
Disney Cruise line made some interesting moves with these announcements, the most clever—in my opinion, being the stop at Port Canaveral on the 8 night sailings from New York. The new itineraries also potentially provide would be Disney Cruisers located near the new ports to give Disney Cruising a try. The ports of New York and Galveston—just a stone’s throw from Houston—will now make cruising with Disney more convenient for an even larger segment of the population.
As for us, the new itineraries are not intriguing, except for the Hawaiian cruise which is out of reach for us due to the date of sailing. Nevertheless, we will continue to be huge fans of Disney Cruise Line and look forward to learning more about the new ships and even more new itineraries beyond 2012!
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